Gerontocracy
Encyclopedia
A gerontocracy is a form of oligarchical
rule in which an entity is ruled by leaders who are significantly older than most of the adult population. Often the political structure is such that political power within the ruling class accumulates with age, so that the oldest hold the most power. Those holding the most power may not be in formal leadership positions, but often dominate those who are.
Gerontocracy's stability is seen as its strength, which can be more appropriate for institutions that teach principles that do not vary over time. In institutions that have to cope with rapid change, the decreased faculties of the aged can potentially be a handicap in providing effective leadership.
s in which the length of one's service to the party is held to be the main qualification for leadership. In the time of the Eight Immortals of Communist Party of China
, it was quipped, "the 80-year-olds are calling meetings of 70-year-olds to decide which 60-year-olds should retire". For instance, Party leader Mao Zedong
was 82 when he died, while Deng Xiaoping
retained a powerful influence until he was nearly 90.
, gerontocracy became increasingly entrenched starting in the 1970s, at least until March 1985, when a dynamic, young, ambitious leadership headed by Mikhail Gorbachev
took power. Leonid Brezhnev
, its foremost representative, died in 1982 aged 75, but had suffered a heart attack
in 1975, after which generalized arteriosclerosis
set in, so that he was progressively infirm and had trouble speaking. During his last two years he was essentially a figurehead.
In 1980, the average Politburo
member was 70 years old (as opposed to 55 in 1952 and 61 in 1964), and by 1982, Brezhnev's Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko
, his Minister of Defense Dmitriy Ustinov
and his Premier Nikolai Tikhonov
were all in their mid-to-late seventies. Yuri Andropov
, Brezhnev's 68-year-old successor, was seriously ill with kidney disease when he took over, and after his death fifteen months later, he was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko
, then 72, who lasted thirteen months before his death and replacement with Gorbachev. Cuba
has been characterized as a gerontocracy: "Although the population is now mainly black or mulatto
and young, its rulers form a mainly white gerontocracy."
(First Secretary Enver Hoxha
was 76 at death), Czechoslovakia
(President Gustáv Husák
was 76 at his resignation), East Germany (General Secretary and head of state Erich Honecker
was 77 when forced out), Hungary
(General Secretary János Kádár
was 75 when forced out), Laos
(President Nouhak Phoumsavanh
was 83 at retirement), North Korea
(President Kim Il-sung
was 82 at death), Romania
(General Secretary and President Nicolae Ceauşescu
was 70 when executed), Vietnam
(President Truong Chinh
was 80 at retirement), Yugoslavia
(President Josip Broz Tito
was 87 at death). On the sub-national level, Georgia's Party head Vasil Mzhavanadze
was 70 when forced out, and his Lithuanian
counterpart Antanas Sniečkus
was 71 at death. Nowadays, Cuba
has been characterized as a gerontocracy.
states such as Iran
and The Vatican
, in which leadership is concentrated in the hands of religious elders. Despite the age of the senior religious leaders, however, parliamentary candidates in Iran must be under 75.
is considered by some to have a gerontocratic system reminiscent of various late communist countries. Power is held by the Saud family; the King and his most powerful relatives are in their eighties.
society is said to be a gerontocracy. The power of elders is linked to the belief in their curse, underpinning their monopoly over arranging marriages and taking on further wives. This is at the expense of unmarried younger men, whose development up to the age of thirty is in a state of social suspension, prolonging their adolescent status. The paradox of Samburu gerontocracy is that popular attention focuses on the glamour and deviant activities of these footloose bachelors, which extend to a form of gang warfare, widespread suspicions of adultery with the wives of older men, and theft of their stock.
are very old, and positions of power within the legislatures - such as chairmanships
of various committees - are usually bestowed upon the more experienced
, that is, older, members of the legislature. For example, Strom Thurmond
, a U.S. senator from South Carolina
, left office at age 100 after almost half a century in the body, while Robert Byrd
of West Virginia
was born in 1917 and served in the Senate from 1959 to his death in 2010. Senators under the age of 40 are virtually unknown.
The minimum age for Presidential candidacy of 35, could also be considered supportive of American gerontocracy, especially considering that there is no maximum. Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest President to ever hold the office, and he was 42 when inaugurated. The youngest President elected, John F. Kennedy, was older still, at 43.
In the Indian state of Tamilnadu, the government headed by M. Karunanidhi
the state's chief minister who is 87 years old, is another real world example of gerontocracy. In another Indian state, West Bengal, Shri Jyoti Basu
, was 86 years old when he stepped down from the office of chief minister of the state. But he continued to remain a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) until a few months before his death in January 2010 and was consulted on all matters related to governance by the Chief Minister and his Cabinet as well as his other party colleagues.
Historically, it could be argued that 1950s Ireland
was a gerontocracy. Due to high levels of emigration of young adults, there was a disproportionately high amount of elderly people remaining in Ireland. The lack of (possibly) progressive young adults is blamed for the relatively staunchly social conservative nature of Irish politics (compared to other Western democracies) at the time, along with politics being divided along Irish Civil War
lines instead of between left
and right
.
who has retained a position of power is generally by far the oldest in the hierarchy.
Gerontocracy generally occurs as a phase in the development of an entity, rather than being part of it throughout its existence. Opposition to gerontocracy may cause weakening or elimination of this characteristic by instituting things like term limits or mandatory retirement age
s.
Judges of the United States
courts, for example, serve for life, but a system of incentives to retire at full pay after a given age and disqualification from leadership for those who fail to do so has been instituted. The International Olympic Committee
instituted a mandatory retirement age in 1965, and Pope Paul VI
removed the right of Roman Catholic Cardinals to vote for a new Pope once they reached the age of 80 (which was to limit the number of Cardinals that would vote for the new Pope, due to the proliferation of Cardinals that was occurring at the time and is continuing to occur.).
On the other hand, gerontocracy may emerge in an institution not initially known for it. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., a 24-year-old man, who in 1835 constituted the first Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
with members ranging in age from 23 to 35. Once it was established that succession to the church presidency derived from longest tenure in an office held for life, the hierarchy aged markedly, and with the growth of the church the age at which officials were named to the highest bodies continued to rise. Six church presidents have held office past the age of 90; until his death at age 97 in 2008, the church was actively led by Gordon B. Hinckley
.
deals with a future society, in which life expectancy
has been expanded to more than two centuries by means of medicine and technology (see transhumanism
) to the effect that the gerontocrats wield almost all capital
and political power
. Adolescents and young (and by modern standards middle-aged) adults live as outsiders with virtually no access to wealth or power
.
This social projection inverts present-day ageism
against seniors, as well as gerontophobia
.
In the fantasy series the Wheel of Time
by Robert Jordan
, The Kin
, a group of women that at some point failed to become Aes Sedai
, do not hold any value in the strength of someone in the One Power
, as opposed to Aes Sedai, and only defer to age.
In the TV version of Logan's Run
, the city is under the control the cabal of elderly citizens. The council is made of Elite citizens of the city who have been given the privilege to live beyond the age of 30.
In the Frederik Pohl
novel Search the Sky, the main character Ross, encounters a planet with a gerontocracy masquerading as a democracy. It uses phrases such as "Old Heads Are Wisest" and gives the population the right to choose who is oldest.
In the opening chapter of the science fiction novel Consider Phlebas
by Ian M. Banks the main character, a spy called Bora Horza Gobuchul
, is being ritually executed by the 'Gerontocracy of Sorpen' for impersonating one of their ministers. The character is a Changer, able to alter his outward appearance at will, and has greatly changed his body so as to appear old enough to make the deception believable.
In the Takeshi Kovacs
series of science-fiction novels by Richard K. Morgan, some worlds, most significantly Earth, are ruled by an incredibly wealthy elite, granted effective immortality by technology which allows the digitisation of the human mind and its transfer between living bodies. Commonly known by the label "Methuselah
s" or "Meths", a reference to the biblical figure
, they control most of the economic and political activities of the planet. Several Meths play a major role in the first novel, Altered Carbon
.
In the computer game Sword of the Stars
, the dolphin-like Liir are ruled by Elders, who have lived for over 300 years and have grown to whale-like size.
In the 2011 nonfiction economic book Beyond the Keynesian Endpoint: Crushed by Credit and Deceived by Debt, Tony Crescenzi postulates on page 154 that gerontocracy and class war is a potential outcome of current trends:
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
rule in which an entity is ruled by leaders who are significantly older than most of the adult population. Often the political structure is such that political power within the ruling class accumulates with age, so that the oldest hold the most power. Those holding the most power may not be in formal leadership positions, but often dominate those who are.
Gerontocracy's stability is seen as its strength, which can be more appropriate for institutions that teach principles that do not vary over time. In institutions that have to cope with rapid change, the decreased faculties of the aged can potentially be a handicap in providing effective leadership.
Gerontocracy in various political systems
Such a form of leadership is common in communist stateCommunist state
A communist state is a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state...
s in which the length of one's service to the party is held to be the main qualification for leadership. In the time of the Eight Immortals of Communist Party of China
Eight Immortals of Communist Party of China
The Eight Great Eminent Officials , abbreviated as the Eight Elders were a group of elderly members of the Communist Party of China who held substantial power during the 1980s and 1990s...
, it was quipped, "the 80-year-olds are calling meetings of 70-year-olds to decide which 60-year-olds should retire". For instance, Party leader Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
was 82 when he died, while Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
retained a powerful influence until he was nearly 90.
In the USSR
In the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, gerontocracy became increasingly entrenched starting in the 1970s, at least until March 1985, when a dynamic, young, ambitious leadership headed by Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
took power. Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
, its foremost representative, died in 1982 aged 75, but had suffered a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in 1975, after which generalized arteriosclerosis
Arteriosclerosis
Arteriosclerosis refers to a stiffening of arteries.Arteriosclerosis is a general term describing any hardening of medium or large arteries It should not be confused with "arteriolosclerosis" or "atherosclerosis".Also known by the name "myoconditis" which is...
set in, so that he was progressively infirm and had trouble speaking. During his last two years he was essentially a figurehead.
In 1980, the average Politburo
Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Politburo , known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, functioned as the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.-Duties and responsibilities:The...
member was 70 years old (as opposed to 55 in 1952 and 61 in 1964), and by 1982, Brezhnev's Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet . Gromyko was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy until he retired in 1987. In the West he was given the...
, his Minister of Defense Dmitriy Ustinov
Dmitriy Ustinov
Dmitriy Feodorovich Ustinov was Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union from 1976 until his death.-Early life:Dimitry Feodorovich Ustinov was born in a working-class family in Samara. During the civil war, when hunger became intolerable, his sick father went to Samarkand, leaving Dimitry as head...
and his Premier Nikolai Tikhonov
Nikolai Tikhonov
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tikhonov was a Soviet Russian-Ukrainian statesman during the Cold War. He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1980 to 1985, and as a First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, literally First Vice Premier, from 1976 to 1980...
were all in their mid-to-late seventies. Yuri Andropov
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...
, Brezhnev's 68-year-old successor, was seriously ill with kidney disease when he took over, and after his death fifteen months later, he was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was a Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985...
, then 72, who lasted thirteen months before his death and replacement with Gorbachev. Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
has been characterized as a gerontocracy: "Although the population is now mainly black or mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
and young, its rulers form a mainly white gerontocracy."
Elsewhere in the Eastern Bloc
Other Communist countries with leaders in their 70s or 80s have included AlbaniaAlbania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
(First Secretary Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
was 76 at death), Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
(President Gustáv Husák
Gustáv Husák
Gustáv Husák was a Slovak politician, president of Czechoslovakia and a long-term Communist leader of Czechoslovakia and of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia...
was 76 at his resignation), East Germany (General Secretary and head of state Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic as General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1971 until 1989, serving as Head of State as well from Willi Stoph's relinquishment of that post in 1976....
was 77 when forced out), Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
(General Secretary János Kádár
János Kádár
János Kádár was a Hungarian communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, presiding over the country from 1956 until his forced retirement in 1988. His thirty-two year term as General Secretary makes Kádár the longest ruler of the People's Republic of Hungary...
was 75 when forced out), Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
(President Nouhak Phoumsavanh
Nouhak Phoumsavanh
Nouhak Phoumsavanh or Phoumsavan was a longtime Pathet Lao revolutionary and communist party official who was President of Laos from 1992 to 1998....
was 83 at retirement), North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
(President Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...
was 82 at death), Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
(General Secretary and President Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
was 70 when executed), Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
(President Truong Chinh
Truong Chinh
Trường Chinh Trường Chinh Trường Chinh (pseudonym meaning “Long March”, born Đặng Xuân Khu (b. February 9, 1907 in Xuân Trường District, Nam Định Province, d. September 30, 1988 in Hanoi) was a Vietnamese communist political leader and theoretician. From 1941 to 1957, he was Vietnam's second-ranked...
was 80 at retirement), Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
(President Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
was 87 at death). On the sub-national level, Georgia's Party head Vasil Mzhavanadze
Vasil Mzhavanadze
Vasil Pavlovich Mzhavanadze was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR from September 1953 to September 28, 1972 and a member of the CPSU's Politburo from June 29, 1957 to December 18, 1972...
was 70 when forced out, and his Lithuanian
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...
counterpart Antanas Sniečkus
Antanas Snieckus
Antanas Sniečkus was First Secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party from August 1940 to January 22, 1974.- Biography :Antanas Sniečkus was born in 1903, in the village of Būbleliai, near Šakiai. During the First World War, his family fled to Russia where he observed the Russian revolution of 1917...
was 71 at death. Nowadays, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
has been characterized as a gerontocracy.
Theocracy
Gerontocracy is also common in religious theocraticTheocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
states such as Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and The Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, in which leadership is concentrated in the hands of religious elders. Despite the age of the senior religious leaders, however, parliamentary candidates in Iran must be under 75.
Absolute monarchies
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
is considered by some to have a gerontocratic system reminiscent of various late communist countries. Power is held by the Saud family; the King and his most powerful relatives are in their eighties.
Stateless societies
In Kenya, SamburuSamburu
The Samburu are a Nilotic people of north-central Kenya that are related to but distinct from the Maasai. The Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists who herd mainly cattle but also keep sheep, goats and camels. The name they use for themselves is Lokop or Loikop, a term which may have a variety of...
society is said to be a gerontocracy. The power of elders is linked to the belief in their curse, underpinning their monopoly over arranging marriages and taking on further wives. This is at the expense of unmarried younger men, whose development up to the age of thirty is in a state of social suspension, prolonging their adolescent status. The paradox of Samburu gerontocracy is that popular attention focuses on the glamour and deviant activities of these footloose bachelors, which extend to a form of gang warfare, widespread suspicions of adultery with the wives of older men, and theft of their stock.
Democracies
Some U.S. senatorsUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
are very old, and positions of power within the legislatures - such as chairmanships
Chair (official)
The chairman is the highest officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office is typically elected or appointed by the members of the group. The chairman presides over meetings of the assembled group and conducts its business in an...
of various committees - are usually bestowed upon the more experienced
Seniority
Seniority is the concept of a person or group of people being in charge or in command of another person or group. This control is often granted to the senior person due to experience or length of service in a given position, but it is not uncommon for a senior person to have less experience or...
, that is, older, members of the legislature. For example, Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
, a U.S. senator from South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, left office at age 100 after almost half a century in the body, while Robert Byrd
Robert Byrd
Robert Carlyle Byrd was a United States Senator from West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd served as a U.S. Representative from 1953 until 1959 and as a U.S. Senator from 1959 to 2010...
of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
was born in 1917 and served in the Senate from 1959 to his death in 2010. Senators under the age of 40 are virtually unknown.
The minimum age for Presidential candidacy of 35, could also be considered supportive of American gerontocracy, especially considering that there is no maximum. Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest President to ever hold the office, and he was 42 when inaugurated. The youngest President elected, John F. Kennedy, was older still, at 43.
In the Indian state of Tamilnadu, the government headed by M. Karunanidhi
M. Karunanidhi
Muthuvel Karunanidhi is an Indian politician and a former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He is the head of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam , a Dravidian political party in the state of Tamil Nadu. He has been the leader of the DMK since the death of its founder, C. N...
the state's chief minister who is 87 years old, is another real world example of gerontocracy. In another Indian state, West Bengal, Shri Jyoti Basu
Jyoti Basu
Jyoti Basu was an Indian politician belonging to the Communist Party of India from West Bengal, India. He served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000, making him the longest-serving Chief Minister of any Indian state. Basu was a member of the CPI Politburo from the time of the...
, was 86 years old when he stepped down from the office of chief minister of the state. But he continued to remain a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) until a few months before his death in January 2010 and was consulted on all matters related to governance by the Chief Minister and his Cabinet as well as his other party colleagues.
Historically, it could be argued that 1950s Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
was a gerontocracy. Due to high levels of emigration of young adults, there was a disproportionately high amount of elderly people remaining in Ireland. The lack of (possibly) progressive young adults is blamed for the relatively staunchly social conservative nature of Irish politics (compared to other Western democracies) at the time, along with politics being divided along Irish Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
lines instead of between left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
and right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
.
Organizational examples
Outside the political sphere, gerontocracy may be observed in other institutional hierarchies of various kinds. Generally the mark of a gerontocracy is the presence of a substantial number of septuagenarian or octogenarian leaders—those younger than this are too young for the label to be appropriate, while those older than this have generally been too few to dominate the leadership in numbers. The rare centenarianCentenarian
A centenarian is a person who is or lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only...
who has retained a position of power is generally by far the oldest in the hierarchy.
Gerontocracy generally occurs as a phase in the development of an entity, rather than being part of it throughout its existence. Opposition to gerontocracy may cause weakening or elimination of this characteristic by instituting things like term limits or mandatory retirement age
Mandatory retirement age
Mandatory retirement is the age at which persons who hold certain jobs or offices are required by industry custom or by law to leave their employment, or retire. Typically, mandatory retirement is justified by the argument that certain occupations are either too dangerous or require high levels of...
s.
Judges of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
courts, for example, serve for life, but a system of incentives to retire at full pay after a given age and disqualification from leadership for those who fail to do so has been instituted. The International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
instituted a mandatory retirement age in 1965, and Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
removed the right of Roman Catholic Cardinals to vote for a new Pope once they reached the age of 80 (which was to limit the number of Cardinals that would vote for the new Pope, due to the proliferation of Cardinals that was occurring at the time and is continuing to occur.).
On the other hand, gerontocracy may emerge in an institution not initially known for it. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., a 24-year-old man, who in 1835 constituted the first Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy...
with members ranging in age from 23 to 35. Once it was established that succession to the church presidency derived from longest tenure in an office held for life, the hierarchy aged markedly, and with the growth of the church the age at which officials were named to the highest bodies continued to rise. Six church presidents have held office past the age of 90; until his death at age 97 in 2008, the church was actively led by Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon Bitner Hinckley was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from March 12, 1995 until his death...
.
Fiction
The science fiction novel Holy Fire by Bruce SterlingBruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.-Writings:...
deals with a future society, in which life expectancy
Life expectancy
Life expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by ex, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
has been expanded to more than two centuries by means of medicine and technology (see transhumanism
Transhumanism
Transhumanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human...
) to the effect that the gerontocrats wield almost all capital
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
and political power
Political power
Political power is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power. At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the...
. Adolescents and young (and by modern standards middle-aged) adults live as outsiders with virtually no access to wealth or power
Power (sociology)
Power is a measurement of an entity's ability to control its environment, including the behavior of other entities. The term authority is often used for power perceived as legitimate by the social structure. Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to...
.
This social projection inverts present-day ageism
Ageism
Ageism, also called age discrimination is stereotyping of and discrimination against individuals or groups because of their age. It is a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to justify age based prejudice, discrimination, and subordination...
against seniors, as well as gerontophobia
Gerontophobia
Gerontophobia is the fear of growing old, or a hatred or fear of the elderly.-Indicators:Ken Dychtwald identifies seven markers that can make up this phobia in chapter two of Age Wave: How the Most Important Trend of Our Time Will Change Your Future:...
.
In the fantasy series the Wheel of Time
The Wheel of Time
The Wheel of Time is a series of epic fantasy novels written by American author James Oliver Rigney, Jr., under the pen name Robert Jordan. Originally planned as a six-book series, the length was increased by increments; at the time of Rigney's death, he expected it to be 12, but it will actually...
by Robert Jordan
Robert Jordan
Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. , under which he was best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Reagan O'Neal and Jackson O'Reilly.-Biography:Jordan was born in Charleston, South Carolina...
, The Kin
Kin
-Places:* Kin, Okinawa, a town in Okinawa, Japan* Kin, Pakistan, a village along the Indus in Pakistan* Kin, Mogok, a village in Mogok Township, Burma * Kin, Ye, a village in Ye Township, Burma...
, a group of women that at some point failed to become Aes Sedai
Aes Sedai
The Aes Sedai are a special society in the fictional universe of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time book series. Aes Sedai means "Servant to All" in the Old Tongue. They are the wielders of the One Power...
, do not hold any value in the strength of someone in the One Power
One Power
In The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan, the One Power is the force that maintains the continuous motion of the Wheel of Time. It comes from the True Source, and it is separated into two halves: saidin , the male half, and saidar , the female half. It is used in the series by people...
, as opposed to Aes Sedai, and only defer to age.
In the TV version of Logan's Run
Logan's Run
Logan's Run is a novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, it depicts a dystopic ageist future society in which both population and the consumption of resources are maintained in equilibrium by requiring the death of everyone reaching a particular age...
, the city is under the control the cabal of elderly citizens. The council is made of Elite citizens of the city who have been given the privilege to live beyond the age of 30.
In the Frederik Pohl
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl, Jr. is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years — from his first published work, "Elegy to a Dead Planet: Luna" , to his most recent novel, All the Lives He Led .He won the National Book Award in 1980 for his novel Jem...
novel Search the Sky, the main character Ross, encounters a planet with a gerontocracy masquerading as a democracy. It uses phrases such as "Old Heads Are Wisest" and gives the population the right to choose who is oldest.
In the opening chapter of the science fiction novel Consider Phlebas
Consider Phlebas
Consider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks. Written after a 1984 draft, it is the first to feature the Culture.-Overview:...
by Ian M. Banks the main character, a spy called Bora Horza Gobuchul
Bora Horza Gobuchul
Bora Horza Gobuchul is the protagonist of the 1987 science fiction novel Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks.The novel is the first to appear featuring the Culture, an advanced humanoid civilization. Inhabitants of the Culture enjoy long life, enhanced capabilities, and access to unlimited technology...
, is being ritually executed by the 'Gerontocracy of Sorpen' for impersonating one of their ministers. The character is a Changer, able to alter his outward appearance at will, and has greatly changed his body so as to appear old enough to make the deception believable.
In the Takeshi Kovacs
Takeshi Kovacs
Takeshi Lev Kovacs is the protagonist of the books Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan, which take place several centuries in the future....
series of science-fiction novels by Richard K. Morgan, some worlds, most significantly Earth, are ruled by an incredibly wealthy elite, granted effective immortality by technology which allows the digitisation of the human mind and its transfer between living bodies. Commonly known by the label "Methuselah
Methuselah
Methuselah is the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Extra-biblical tradition maintains that he died on the 11th of Cheshvan of the year 1656 , at the age of 969, seven days before the beginning of the Great Flood...
s" or "Meths", a reference to the biblical figure
Methuselah
Methuselah is the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Extra-biblical tradition maintains that he died on the 11th of Cheshvan of the year 1656 , at the age of 969, seven days before the beginning of the Great Flood...
, they control most of the economic and political activities of the planet. Several Meths play a major role in the first novel, Altered Carbon
Altered Carbon
Altered Carbon is a hardboiled science fiction novel by Richard K. Morgan. Set some five hundred years in the future in a universe in which the United Nations Protectorate oversees a number of extrasolar planets settled by human beings, it features protagonist Takeshi Kovacs...
.
In the computer game Sword of the Stars
Sword of the Stars
Sword of the Stars is a space 4X game developed by Kerberos Productions. In the game the player chooses one of four unique races to form an interstellar empire and conquer the galaxy...
, the dolphin-like Liir are ruled by Elders, who have lived for over 300 years and have grown to whale-like size.
In the 2011 nonfiction economic book Beyond the Keynesian Endpoint: Crushed by Credit and Deceived by Debt, Tony Crescenzi postulates on page 154 that gerontocracy and class war is a potential outcome of current trends:
- What is meant here is not actual rule ... but a sizeable shift in voting power so subtantial that the priorities of the young and of future generations are at risk of being subordinated to senior citizens. When they are, tax dollars are allocated toward healthcare and other priorities near and dear to seniors rather than toward education and infrastructure, two major factors that heavilty influence a nation's economic growth potential.